To bridge the gap between police and public and break the fear and stigma associated with visiting police stations, the Andhra Pradesh government today launched a mobile app that offers 87 services to the doorstep.

The AP Police Seva App was launched by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy today, which would enable registration of complaints online and monitor the follow-up action. The app also has a feature to check authenticity of news circulated on social media. Citizens needn’t go to the police station for lodging a complaint but can use the app and can track the status of the complaint and a receipt is generated after lodging the complaint and can be followed up without going to police stations.

The CM said that the launch of the app is in tune with the friendly policing concept and to instil confidence among the people.

The new app offers 87 types of services connecting all police stations across the State besides integrating the existing women-safety Disha App as well.

Director General of Police Damodar Goutam Sawang said there is no need to be afraid of police but they should be treated as public servants.

The app consists of 12 modules related to women’s safety, where even the Disha app was integrated. There is also the facility of making video calls in case of emergencies along with complaints through WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.

So far, 11 lakh people have downloaded Disha app and 568 cases have been registered and in 117 cases, FIR was filed. In addition to this, the new app also comprises six Road Safety modules, where a report of an accident victim can be filed online and further linked to hospital services. Similarly, it has 15 modules of Cyber Crime, where one can report any sort of cybercrime.

For the first of its kind, the AP Police-Seva app consists of a fact-check feature, where one can utilize these services to find the authenticity of the news reports or the news being circulating in social media. The feature aims to curb the spread of fake news and messages. Right from the monitoring of house safety to passport services, lost documents and other verification services are available in this app.

“The motive of the app is to enhance and further take the 87 services provided by the AP Police department to the doorstep of the people by incorporating state of the art technology, thus breaking the stigma associated with police stations and bridging the gap between the police and the public,” DGP Sawang said. This app will also substantially minimize the need to approach police stations physically, he added.

The app will enable the public to register complaints, check FIR status and E-challans, file applications for passports, licences and no-objection certificates. Further, it will also aid people during road accidents by alerting the nearest police station, providing information about and directions to the nearest hospitals, blood banks and pharmacies. In addition, the app will also periodically update information about missing persons and unidentified dead bodies.